What's Your Story?

Craig Wortmann

Description

What's Your Story?" Using stories to ignite performance and be more successful is a leaders book. This book is written for people who want to make a difference; people who want to build, create, learn, share, and inspire; people who want to give themselves and others the powerful gift of story. "What's Your Story?" helps leaders enhance their performance by looking at their everyday communications differently. By learning how to use the right stories at the right time - success and failure stories - Craig will show you how to create strong connections with people and with the organization's strategy to enhance your performance.

Sujets

• Gestion et management
• Economics
• Business
• Leadership

Informations

• Publié par: Sales Engine
• Date de parution: 21 septembre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780985325312
• Langue: English

Extrait

PRAISE FOR WHAT S YOUR STORY?
This is a smart book, an important book and a book you need to read. If your message isn t getting through, here s why.
-S ETH G ODIN , author, All Marketers Are Liars
Storytelling is becoming more and more recognized as a critical element of great leadership. Craig is at the leading edge of this very important trend. The book not only provides the context of why storytelling is so important but, more important, provides the tools to help anyone put storytelling into practice today.
-B RIAN J. M C N AMARA , Senior Vice President/NA Region Head, Novartis OTC
A great reminder that all businesses are people businesses. In today s fast-paced techno-world, it s easy to get caught in rapid responses vs. relationship building. If you want people to remember you, slow down and read this book.
-B OB T ORKELSON , President and COO, Trinchero Family Estates
The story is the most powerful tool of the effective communicator, and in this book you ll learn more than you ever imagined about effectively using stories. Craig Wortmann delivers in a book that is chock full of insights and great ideas.
-M ARK S ANBORN , Author of The Fred Factor and You Don t Need a Title to Be a Leader
This is a very valuable book on the power of telling stories to create personal and organizational change. I highly recommend it.
-J ACK C ANFIELD , Coauthor, Chicken Soup for the Soul series and The Success Principles
In What s Your Story? Using Stories to Ignite Performance and Be More Successful, author, entrepreneur, and master storyteller Craig Wortmann demonstrates the powerful impact stories have on the three most common performance challenges-leadership, strategic selling, and motivation.
While the technique of telling stories is the oldest form of communication-it s also the one form that rises above the din of our information-saturated environment and delivers messages in a way that connects with people, bringing ideas to life and making them actionable and memorable.
Leaders at all levels learn how to use the toolset developed in this book-the Win Book, Story Matrix, and Story Coach-to capture and tell the right stories at the right time to inspire their own performance and the performance of the those around them. Through real-life scenarios, illustrations, quotations, tools, and examples, Wortmann guides you through the process of uncovering your stories.

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
First Edition: 2006
Published by Kaplan Publishing, a division of Kaplan, Inc.
Typesetter and Cover Designer: Renata Graw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wortmann, Craig.
What s your story? : using stories to ignite performance and be more successful/Craig Wortmann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4195-3556-7
ISBN-10: 1-4195-3556-0
1. Communication organizations. 2. Storytelling. 3. Leadership. I. Title.
HD30.3.W67 2006
658.4 5--dc22
2006015549
06 07 08 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Second Edition: 2012
Published by Sales Engine, Evanston, IL
Type and Graphics Editing: Wendy Ruel, IPM Group, Inc., Overland Park, KS
ISBN-13: 978-0-9853253-0-5
2006, 2012 by Craig Wortmann
All rights reserved. The text of this publication, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
This book is available at special quantity discounts to use for sales promotions, employee premiums, or educational purposes. For more information, contact [e-mail] or Sales Engine, 1555 Sherman Avenue Suite 220, Evanston, Illinois 60201
Craig Wortmann is an entrepreneur and three-time CEO who speaks to and motivates audiences all over the world on the topics of Entrepreneurship Sales, Storytelling and Leadership. He motivates, inspires and delights on these topics bringing them to life through the powerful stories he tells. Craig transfers his knowledge through coaching and the application of tools he has developed that underlie high performance and drive success for leaders in each of these areas.
Craig is the Founder and CEO of Sales Engine, a firm that helps companies build and tune their sales engine. Previously, Craig was recruited to join start-up WisdomTools as CEO, which he ran, grew and then successfully sold to a larger firm. And then he did it again. As the CEO of ClearGauge, an interactive marketing and web strategy firm, Craig executed a turnaround and high-valuation sale by building the sales engine, developing a new web presence, and cutting costs.
Craig is a clinical professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he teaches Building the New Venture and Entrepreneurial Selling, an Inc. Magazine Award-Winning Top Ten course. Craig also designed and teaches a course called Personal Leadership Insights that looks at the knowledge, skills and discipline that serve as a foundation for developing one s own leadership capital.
Craig lives in Evanston with his wife, two children and their dog, Mr Chips.
DEDICATION
To my parents, Jeanine and Donald Wortmann. Mom, your love and persistent coaching helped my find my own voice. And Dad, you are simply the greatest man I ve ever known.
If, in the final analysis, I have been one-tenth the parent that each of you has been, I will have succeeded.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My wife, Jill Wortmann, is the reason this book exists. Jill, you encouraged me to get these ideas out there, and you helped to drive this effort from start to finish. Thank you so much for your support, your help in thinking things through, your time spent reading draft after draft, your incisive editing, and most of all for your belief.
I also want to thank two other smart and talented women who bravely read the first draft: my friends Lisa Schumacher and Kara Cardinale. As first drafts go, this thing was really scary. But you persevered, and your suggestions were invaluable. This book is clearer, tighter, and just a lot better thanks to you two.
Between being a dad and husband, writing this book, and running a small company, my schedule was a little nuts for the better part of a year. And there was very little time for fun diversions. So, I also want to thank a very special group of guys, all from one extended family-the Skalinders and Anichs. Gents, thank you sincerely for letting me, a nonrelative, join your BNO team, and for giving me a much-needed break right in the middle of an otherwise hectic week.
Many thanks to the incredible team at Kaplan Publishing. Thanks to you all, this experience has been an incredible learning journey for me. Thank you so much for your patience, your support, your powerful ideas, and your enthusiasm. You all went way above and beyond for me at every step. Every author should be so lucky. Eileen Johnson, this was, after all, YOUR idea! You shouldn t have asked me that fateful question over coffee: Craig, so you talk about stories a lot what does that mean? And Michael Cunningham, your ideas and comments on writing and structure are all over this effort. Thanks for the education you have given me. Michael Shelley, thanks to you for getting the ball rolling by truly understanding the power of stories and WisdomTools. Roy Lipner, you have one helluva team my friend. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
The illustrations and graphics that you will find here are the work of a very talented designer, Renata Graw. Renata, thank you for taking my chicken-scratch drawings and making them come alive. Your sense of clean but powerful design is inspirational.
And to all of the energetic, talented people of WisdomTools, past and present. They say that a good wine takes time to cure, and that it acquires its flavor in each step of the process, from the soil to the sunlight to the aging. WisdomTools is inventing an entirely new way to help organizations be more effective, and each of you added your own flavor to our company. Thank you for helping us build great stories and deliver client delight.
I wrote this book because I wanted to help people, to learn how to write, and to tell my stories in a different way. So I want to acknowledge you, the reader, for joining me in this journey.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
P ART O NE : P ROBLEM
1. AWASH IN BITS AND BULLETS
Click, Click, Click
We Are All Fighter Pilots
So, How Do We Com-mu-ni-cate?
Lots of Tools, No Blueprints
Building Muscle, Not Fat
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
P ART T WO : S OLUTION
2. STORIES WORK
People Are Bulletproof
Gaining Traction
Why Stories Work
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
3. WORK STORIES
High-Stakes versus Low-Stakes Communications
Work Stories
Don t Be Invisible
The Key Ingredient
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
P ART T HREE : T OOLS
4. THE WIN BOOK
Embarrassment of Riches
Win File to Win Book
Elements of the Win Book
Using Your Win Book
What a Win Book Is Not
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
5. THE STORY MATRIX
Panning for Gold
The Vertical Axis-Story Types
The Horizontal Axis-Performance Skills
Using Your Story Matrix
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
6. THE STORY COACH
Telling Stories
IGNITE
Using the Story Tools: A Six-Step Process
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
P ART F OUR : T ECHNIQUES
7. LEADERSHIP STORIES
Cutting through the Noise
Open Source, Not Proprietary
Putting It All Together
Story: The New News Blues
Lead with Stories
Summary
My Thoughts and Ideas
8. SELLING STORIES
Attention, Please!
Stories Differentiate You
Story: A Sprint to the Finish
Sell the Truth
Summary